This document discusses cognitive biases and how the human brain reasons compared to computers and robots. It explains that the brain assigns meaning to information in a way that can introduce logical errors, unlike computers which process data in a purely logical manner. Several common cognitive biases are described such as confirmation bias, conjunction fallacy, anchoring effect, and regression to the mean. Examples of animal cognition experiments in gorillas, dogs, and horses are provided to show how non-human animals can also exhibit logical reasoning abilities based on experience. The document concludes by offering tips on how to mitigate the impact of cognitive biases in decision making.
You're not so smart - Cognitive BiasesOdair Faléco
We think we are smart, but understanding Cognitive Biases shows how limited is our perception of reality and information around us.
On this presentation I expalin and bring some real examples of the most commom biases used in the market, web and UX.
There are many kinds of cognitive biases that influence individuals differently, but their common characteristic is that they lead to judgment and decision-making that deviates from rational objectivity.
Cognitive Biases and Effects You Should Know AboutKevlin Henney
Presented at NDC 2011 in Oslo (8th June 2011)
Video available at http://www.everytalk.tv/talks/678-NDC-Cognitive-Biases-and-Effects-You-Should-Know-About
In software development, developers, architects and managers often like to think of themselves as rational and clear thinking, not prone to the chaotic and contradictory thinking they see at home, in politics or in the world of business. Although it is possible to get further from the truth than this, it is not likely.
Those involved in software development are just as human as people in other walks of life, and are just as subject to the cognitive biases and effects that skew, truncate and bypass clear thinking. The effects on rationality affect everything from testing to estimation, from programming to project delivery. It is easier to see and react to these effects in yourself and others when you know what some of them are.
The human brain is capable of 1016 processes per second, which makes it far more powerful than any computer currently in existence. But that doesn't mean our brains don't have major limitations.
The lowly calculator can do math thousands of times better than we can, and our memories are often less than useless —plus,
we're subject to cognitive biases, those annoying glitches in our thinking that cause us to make questionable decisions and reach erroneous conclusions.
Here are a dozen of the most common and pernicious cognitive biases that you need to know about.
Presented at CodeMash 2015. By Joseph Ours
Joseph's presentation is based on the book "Thinking Fast and Slow" where Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman introduces two mental systems, one that is fast and the other slow. Together they shape our impressions of the world around us and help us make choices. System 1 is largely unconscious and makes snap judgments based upon memories of similar events and our emotions. System 2 is painfully slow, and is the process by which we consciously check the facts and think carefully and rationally. System 2 is easily distracted. System 1 is wrong quite often. Real-world examples that demonstrate how the two systems work are that pro golfers will more accurately putt for par than they do for birdie regardless of distance and people will buy more cans of soup when there is a sign on the display that says “limit 12 per customer."
You're not so smart - Cognitive BiasesOdair Faléco
We think we are smart, but understanding Cognitive Biases shows how limited is our perception of reality and information around us.
On this presentation I expalin and bring some real examples of the most commom biases used in the market, web and UX.
There are many kinds of cognitive biases that influence individuals differently, but their common characteristic is that they lead to judgment and decision-making that deviates from rational objectivity.
Cognitive Biases and Effects You Should Know AboutKevlin Henney
Presented at NDC 2011 in Oslo (8th June 2011)
Video available at http://www.everytalk.tv/talks/678-NDC-Cognitive-Biases-and-Effects-You-Should-Know-About
In software development, developers, architects and managers often like to think of themselves as rational and clear thinking, not prone to the chaotic and contradictory thinking they see at home, in politics or in the world of business. Although it is possible to get further from the truth than this, it is not likely.
Those involved in software development are just as human as people in other walks of life, and are just as subject to the cognitive biases and effects that skew, truncate and bypass clear thinking. The effects on rationality affect everything from testing to estimation, from programming to project delivery. It is easier to see and react to these effects in yourself and others when you know what some of them are.
The human brain is capable of 1016 processes per second, which makes it far more powerful than any computer currently in existence. But that doesn't mean our brains don't have major limitations.
The lowly calculator can do math thousands of times better than we can, and our memories are often less than useless —plus,
we're subject to cognitive biases, those annoying glitches in our thinking that cause us to make questionable decisions and reach erroneous conclusions.
Here are a dozen of the most common and pernicious cognitive biases that you need to know about.
Presented at CodeMash 2015. By Joseph Ours
Joseph's presentation is based on the book "Thinking Fast and Slow" where Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman introduces two mental systems, one that is fast and the other slow. Together they shape our impressions of the world around us and help us make choices. System 1 is largely unconscious and makes snap judgments based upon memories of similar events and our emotions. System 2 is painfully slow, and is the process by which we consciously check the facts and think carefully and rationally. System 2 is easily distracted. System 1 is wrong quite often. Real-world examples that demonstrate how the two systems work are that pro golfers will more accurately putt for par than they do for birdie regardless of distance and people will buy more cans of soup when there is a sign on the display that says “limit 12 per customer."
As thinking human beings and team leaders or architects we can benefit from knowing more about how we think, deliberate and decide. Most teams rely on trust, transparency, collaboration, and collective decision-making. “Thinking, Fast and Slow,” by Daniel Kahneman explains two systems that drive how we think. System 1 thinking is fast, intuitive, and emotional; System 2 is slow, deliberate, and logical.
In this presentation you learn how fast and slow thinking affects your reactions, behaviors, and decision-making. You’ll explore how several common development practices (with an emphasis on some agile practices), can amplify and exploit your thinking abilities and where they might lead you astray.
Fast thinking works pretty well in a well-known context. You save time when you don’t have to deliberate over details and nuances in order to make informed decisions. But fast thinking can lead to extremely poor decisions. You might jump to conclusions, be wildly optimistic, or greatly under-assess risks and rewards. You need to exploit both fast and slow thinking and be acutely aware of when fast thinking is tripping you up.
A brief and general account of selected potential cognitive biases in drug discovery and development, along with some suggestions on how to avoid them.
While making judgments and decisions about the world around us, we like to think that we are Objective,Logical, and
Capable of taking in and evaluating all the information that is available to us.
The reality is that our judgments and decisions are often
riddled with errors and influenced by a wide variety of biases.
The human brain is both remarkable and powerful, but certainly subject to limitations.
One type of fundamental limitation on human thinking is known as a cognitive bias.
Important concepts around how we all make decisions. This presentation introduces the work of Nobel prize winner Daniel Kahneman on Cognitive Biases, and helps you understand why we make errors in judgement, and how to look for signs you're about make one.
Hello Everyone,
A big thank you for all the interest in this study guide. It was originally created as a fun introduction that took the Cognitive Bias wiki and tried to make it easier to memorize.
However, the authors of the wiki article have expressed some concern over the accuracy of certain entries. The document was taken down until that could be corrected.
But, people started asking that I release a new version with a warning. In response, a new "Beta version" of the document has been uploaded with a very strong warning label up front and improved citations. I make it clear that all the text is based on an evolving wiki page and that some of the cognitive biases in there might be incorrect wiki entries. My hope is that this will continue to get people interested in pitching in to help fix the Cognitive Bias wiki pages. :) When the wiki is in a good place, I will take the document out of Beta, and will remove the warning label.
If you are a cognitive expert, join “Operation Fix The Cognitive Bias Wiki!” Add your suggestion to the conversation here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:List_of_cognitive_biases
Thanks for your interest!
Eric
P.S. . The images have been updated for better remixing and sharing rights. Rather than using permission based images, now all the images are public domain or free non-commercial use by anyone.
People make many decisions. In decision-making scenarios people use rules of thumb (heuristics) to assist in decision-making. Often the heuristics lead to decisions contrary to the desired outcomes. This presentation outlines a set of cognitive biases common in decision making and how to prevent the biases or mitigate the consequences.
This presentation was designed for a class on Management Support Systems. The emphasis is on dynamic decisions and group decision making, rather than research involving described scenarios.
Noise is everywhere, and it affects every decision we make. We all know to check our biases when it comes to important decisions, but how often do you check your noise?
A book review on the book of John Adair,titled Effective decision making presented by Dr. Helal Uddin Ahmed, Bangladeshi doctor works in psychiatry, BSMMU, Bangladesh.
As thinking human beings and team leaders or architects we can benefit from knowing more about how we think, deliberate and decide. Most teams rely on trust, transparency, collaboration, and collective decision-making. “Thinking, Fast and Slow,” by Daniel Kahneman explains two systems that drive how we think. System 1 thinking is fast, intuitive, and emotional; System 2 is slow, deliberate, and logical.
In this presentation you learn how fast and slow thinking affects your reactions, behaviors, and decision-making. You’ll explore how several common development practices (with an emphasis on some agile practices), can amplify and exploit your thinking abilities and where they might lead you astray.
Fast thinking works pretty well in a well-known context. You save time when you don’t have to deliberate over details and nuances in order to make informed decisions. But fast thinking can lead to extremely poor decisions. You might jump to conclusions, be wildly optimistic, or greatly under-assess risks and rewards. You need to exploit both fast and slow thinking and be acutely aware of when fast thinking is tripping you up.
A brief and general account of selected potential cognitive biases in drug discovery and development, along with some suggestions on how to avoid them.
While making judgments and decisions about the world around us, we like to think that we are Objective,Logical, and
Capable of taking in and evaluating all the information that is available to us.
The reality is that our judgments and decisions are often
riddled with errors and influenced by a wide variety of biases.
The human brain is both remarkable and powerful, but certainly subject to limitations.
One type of fundamental limitation on human thinking is known as a cognitive bias.
Important concepts around how we all make decisions. This presentation introduces the work of Nobel prize winner Daniel Kahneman on Cognitive Biases, and helps you understand why we make errors in judgement, and how to look for signs you're about make one.
Hello Everyone,
A big thank you for all the interest in this study guide. It was originally created as a fun introduction that took the Cognitive Bias wiki and tried to make it easier to memorize.
However, the authors of the wiki article have expressed some concern over the accuracy of certain entries. The document was taken down until that could be corrected.
But, people started asking that I release a new version with a warning. In response, a new "Beta version" of the document has been uploaded with a very strong warning label up front and improved citations. I make it clear that all the text is based on an evolving wiki page and that some of the cognitive biases in there might be incorrect wiki entries. My hope is that this will continue to get people interested in pitching in to help fix the Cognitive Bias wiki pages. :) When the wiki is in a good place, I will take the document out of Beta, and will remove the warning label.
If you are a cognitive expert, join “Operation Fix The Cognitive Bias Wiki!” Add your suggestion to the conversation here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:List_of_cognitive_biases
Thanks for your interest!
Eric
P.S. . The images have been updated for better remixing and sharing rights. Rather than using permission based images, now all the images are public domain or free non-commercial use by anyone.
People make many decisions. In decision-making scenarios people use rules of thumb (heuristics) to assist in decision-making. Often the heuristics lead to decisions contrary to the desired outcomes. This presentation outlines a set of cognitive biases common in decision making and how to prevent the biases or mitigate the consequences.
This presentation was designed for a class on Management Support Systems. The emphasis is on dynamic decisions and group decision making, rather than research involving described scenarios.
Noise is everywhere, and it affects every decision we make. We all know to check our biases when it comes to important decisions, but how often do you check your noise?
A book review on the book of John Adair,titled Effective decision making presented by Dr. Helal Uddin Ahmed, Bangladeshi doctor works in psychiatry, BSMMU, Bangladesh.
Strategy Execution is more important then ever. This ebook will help you identify the 7 most common strategy execution hurdles (execution villains) and shows you how to combat them.
This was a presentation I did on Malcolm Gladwell's Blink 4 years ago in University. There are some points missing that were presented verbally, but it's still an interesting summary on a fantastic book.
Cultivating Intuition - Through Meticulous Self-trackingBen Ahrens
The following talk is a culmination of 5+ years of research, failed tracking trials, exhaustive experimentation, and mind-bending experiences - all of which have lead me to this point: Cultivating Intuition Through Meticulous Self-tracking
Humans Aren’t Computers: Effective Leadership Strategies for ITMichele Chubirka
IT leaders are expected to break down silos between different technology teams, get end users to understand and embrace policies, and forge productive relationships with their counterparts on the business side of the organization. This is harder than it sounds, because while people can behave rationally, they can also be governed by emotions such as frustration and fear of change. They can be driven by ego, a bad attitude, or simple ignorance. They can cause conflict that can disrupt professional relationships, drag down a team or even poison an entire department. Unfortunately for technical-minded leaders, there's no Python script to program company-wide collaboration and harmony and get everyone to sing Kumbaya. We have to learn how to build healthy relationships with employees, drive engagement, and understand how to resolve conflicts using practical, effective strategies.
Absolute-North Ltd. David C Winegar People Strategies for Beating COVID-19 David Winegar
Presentation from a Webinar given on April 17, 2020. Subjects covered include behavioral neuroscience and psychological safety. How to understand and deploy people strategies to beat COVID-19 and lead better in times of crisis.
The Importance of Ethics6. Leadership Ethics7. The Role .docxoreo10
The Importance of Ethics
6. Leadership Ethics
7. The Role of Values and Ethics at Work
UNTIL PHILOSOPHERS ARE KINGS, or the kings and princes of this world have
the spirit and power of philosophy, and political greatness and wisdom meet in
one, and those commoner natures who pursue either to the exclusion of the other
are compelled to stand aside, cities will never have rest from their evils—no, nor
the human race, as I believe—and then only will this our State have a possibility of
life and behold the light of day.
—Plato (428–347 BC)
The Republic: An Ideal Commonwealth
Learning Objectives
After studying Part Three, you will be able to:
• Know the importance of ethics at work.
• Identify the levels and stages of moral development.
• Understand why leadership by values is important.
• Describe the values that guide you in moral dilemmas.
• Know the role of the leader in setting the moral tone and ethical climate
of the workplace.
Part 3
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Leadership Ethics
W ith one after another high-profile scandal in business and government, interestin the nature of ethical leadership has grown proportionally.1 Prominentscholars, including Ronald Heifetz, James MacGregor Burns, and Robert
Greenleaf, have provided perspective on this important subject. A common theme is the
need for leadership that is based on honesty, service to others, and moral courage.
For Heifetz, leadership involves the use of authority to help followers uphold
important values in the workplace. Burns’s theory of transformational leadership
emphasizes the moral development of followers and maintaining high standards of
ethical conduct. Greenleaf’s approach to leadership has strong ethical overtones, with
the central premise being that true leadership is service to others.2
Leaders must understand the subject of ethics—what it is and why it is important.
Ethics is the branch of philosophy concerned with the intent, means, and consequences
of moral behavior. It is the study of moral judgments and right and wrong conduct.
Some human judgments are factual (the earth is round); others are aesthetic (she is
beautiful); and still others are moral (people should be honest and should not kill).
Moral judgments are judgments about what is right and wrong, good and bad.3 The
Spanish writer Cervantes wrote about ethics in Don Quixote:
I know that the path of virtue is straight and narrow, and the road of vice broad and spacious. I
know also that their ends and resting places are different; for those of vice, large and open, end
in death; and those of virtue, narrow and intricate, end in life; and not in life that has an end,
but in that which is eternal.4
The word ethics is derived from the Greek word ethos, referring to a person’s
fundamental orientation toward life. Originally, ethos meant “a dwelling place.” For
the philosopher Aristotle, ethos came to mean “an inner dwel ...
IntroductionEvery author, I suppose, has in mind a set.docxvrickens
Introduction
Every author, I suppose, has in mind a setting in which readers of his or her work could benefit
from having read it. Mine is the proverbial office watercooler, where opinions are shared and
gossip is exchanged. I hope to enrich the vocabulary that people use when they talk about the
judgments and choices of others, the company’s new policies, or a colleague’s investment
decisions. Why be concerned with gossip? Because it is much easier, as well as far more
enjoyable, to identify and label the mistakes of others than to recognize our own. Questioning what
we believe and want is difficult at the best of times, and especially difficult when we most need to
do it, but we can benefit from the informed opinions of others. Many of us spontaneously anticipate
how friends and colleagues will evaluate our choices; the quality and content of these anticipated
judgments therefore matters. The expectation of intelligent gossip is a powerful motive for serious
self-criticism, more powerful than New Year resolutions to improve one’s decision making at
work and at home.
To be a good diagnostician, a physician needs to acquire a large set of labels for diseases, each
of which binds an idea of the illness and its symptoms, possible antecedents and causes, possible
developments and consequences, and possible interventions to cure or mitigate the illness.
Learning medicine consists in part of learning the language of medicine. A deeper understanding of
judgments and choices also requires a richer vocabulary than is available in everyday language.
The hope for informed gossip is that there are distinctive patterns in the errors people make.
Systematic errors are known as biases, and they recur predictably in particular circumstances.
When the handsome and confident speaker bounds onto the stage, for example, you can anticipate
that the audience will judge his comments more favorably than he deserves. The availability of a
diagnostic label for this bias—the halo effect—makes it easier to anticipate, recognize, and
understand.
When you are asked what you are thinking about, you can normally answer. You believe you
know what goes on in your mind, which often consists of one conscious thought leading in an
orderly way to another. But that is not the only way the mind works, nor indeed is that the typical
way. Most impressions and thoughts arise in your conscious experience without your knowing how
they got there. You cannot tracryd>e how you came to the belief that there is a lamp on the desk in
front of you, or how you detected a hint of irritation in your spouse’s voice on the telephone, or
how you managed to avoid a threat on the road before you became consciously aware of it. The
mental work that produces impressions, intuitions, and many decisions goes on in silence in our
mind.
Much of the discussion in this book is about biases of intuition. However, the focus on error
does not denigrate human intelligence, any m ...
Security Is Like An Onion, That's Why It Makes You CryMichele Chubirka
Why is the security industry so full of fail? We spend millions of dollars on firewalls, IPS, IDS, DLP, professional penetration tests and assessments, vulnerability and compliance tools and at the end of the day, the weakest link is the user and his or her inability to make the right choices. It's enough to make a security engineer cry. The one thing you can depend upon in an enterprise is that many of our users, even with training, will still make the wrong choices. They still click on links they shouldn't, respond to phishing scams, open documents without thinking, post too much information on Twitter and Facebook, use their pet's name as passwords, etc'. But what if this isn't because users hate us or are too stupid? What if all our complaints about not being heard and our instructions regarding the best security practices have more to do with our failure to understand modern neuroscience and the human mind's resistance to change?
Earliest Galaxies in the JADES Origins Field: Luminosity Function and Cosmic ...Sérgio Sacani
We characterize the earliest galaxy population in the JADES Origins Field (JOF), the deepest
imaging field observed with JWST. We make use of the ancillary Hubble optical images (5 filters
spanning 0.4−0.9µm) and novel JWST images with 14 filters spanning 0.8−5µm, including 7 mediumband filters, and reaching total exposure times of up to 46 hours per filter. We combine all our data
at > 2.3µm to construct an ultradeep image, reaching as deep as ≈ 31.4 AB mag in the stack and
30.3-31.0 AB mag (5σ, r = 0.1” circular aperture) in individual filters. We measure photometric
redshifts and use robust selection criteria to identify a sample of eight galaxy candidates at redshifts
z = 11.5 − 15. These objects show compact half-light radii of R1/2 ∼ 50 − 200pc, stellar masses of
M⋆ ∼ 107−108M⊙, and star-formation rates of SFR ∼ 0.1−1 M⊙ yr−1
. Our search finds no candidates
at 15 < z < 20, placing upper limits at these redshifts. We develop a forward modeling approach to
infer the properties of the evolving luminosity function without binning in redshift or luminosity that
marginalizes over the photometric redshift uncertainty of our candidate galaxies and incorporates the
impact of non-detections. We find a z = 12 luminosity function in good agreement with prior results,
and that the luminosity function normalization and UV luminosity density decline by a factor of ∼ 2.5
from z = 12 to z = 14. We discuss the possible implications of our results in the context of theoretical
models for evolution of the dark matter halo mass function.
(May 29th, 2024) Advancements in Intravital Microscopy- Insights for Preclini...Scintica Instrumentation
Intravital microscopy (IVM) is a powerful tool utilized to study cellular behavior over time and space in vivo. Much of our understanding of cell biology has been accomplished using various in vitro and ex vivo methods; however, these studies do not necessarily reflect the natural dynamics of biological processes. Unlike traditional cell culture or fixed tissue imaging, IVM allows for the ultra-fast high-resolution imaging of cellular processes over time and space and were studied in its natural environment. Real-time visualization of biological processes in the context of an intact organism helps maintain physiological relevance and provide insights into the progression of disease, response to treatments or developmental processes.
In this webinar we give an overview of advanced applications of the IVM system in preclinical research. IVIM technology is a provider of all-in-one intravital microscopy systems and solutions optimized for in vivo imaging of live animal models at sub-micron resolution. The system’s unique features and user-friendly software enables researchers to probe fast dynamic biological processes such as immune cell tracking, cell-cell interaction as well as vascularization and tumor metastasis with exceptional detail. This webinar will also give an overview of IVM being utilized in drug development, offering a view into the intricate interaction between drugs/nanoparticles and tissues in vivo and allows for the evaluation of therapeutic intervention in a variety of tissues and organs. This interdisciplinary collaboration continues to drive the advancements of novel therapeutic strategies.
Richard's entangled aventures in wonderlandRichard Gill
Since the loophole-free Bell experiments of 2020 and the Nobel prizes in physics of 2022, critics of Bell's work have retreated to the fortress of super-determinism. Now, super-determinism is a derogatory word - it just means "determinism". Palmer, Hance and Hossenfelder argue that quantum mechanics and determinism are not incompatible, using a sophisticated mathematical construction based on a subtle thinning of allowed states and measurements in quantum mechanics, such that what is left appears to make Bell's argument fail, without altering the empirical predictions of quantum mechanics. I think however that it is a smoke screen, and the slogan "lost in math" comes to my mind. I will discuss some other recent disproofs of Bell's theorem using the language of causality based on causal graphs. Causal thinking is also central to law and justice. I will mention surprising connections to my work on serial killer nurse cases, in particular the Dutch case of Lucia de Berk and the current UK case of Lucy Letby.
Professional air quality monitoring systems provide immediate, on-site data for analysis, compliance, and decision-making.
Monitor common gases, weather parameters, particulates.
Observation of Io’s Resurfacing via Plume Deposition Using Ground-based Adapt...Sérgio Sacani
Since volcanic activity was first discovered on Io from Voyager images in 1979, changes
on Io’s surface have been monitored from both spacecraft and ground-based telescopes.
Here, we present the highest spatial resolution images of Io ever obtained from a groundbased telescope. These images, acquired by the SHARK-VIS instrument on the Large
Binocular Telescope, show evidence of a major resurfacing event on Io’s trailing hemisphere. When compared to the most recent spacecraft images, the SHARK-VIS images
show that a plume deposit from a powerful eruption at Pillan Patera has covered part
of the long-lived Pele plume deposit. Although this type of resurfacing event may be common on Io, few have been detected due to the rarity of spacecraft visits and the previously low spatial resolution available from Earth-based telescopes. The SHARK-VIS instrument ushers in a new era of high resolution imaging of Io’s surface using adaptive
optics at visible wavelengths.
A brief information about the SCOP protein database used in bioinformatics.
The Structural Classification of Proteins (SCOP) database is a comprehensive and authoritative resource for the structural and evolutionary relationships of proteins. It provides a detailed and curated classification of protein structures, grouping them into families, superfamilies, and folds based on their structural and sequence similarities.
Slide 1: Title Slide
Extrachromosomal Inheritance
Slide 2: Introduction to Extrachromosomal Inheritance
Definition: Extrachromosomal inheritance refers to the transmission of genetic material that is not found within the nucleus.
Key Components: Involves genes located in mitochondria, chloroplasts, and plasmids.
Slide 3: Mitochondrial Inheritance
Mitochondria: Organelles responsible for energy production.
Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA): Circular DNA molecule found in mitochondria.
Inheritance Pattern: Maternally inherited, meaning it is passed from mothers to all their offspring.
Diseases: Examples include Leber’s hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON) and mitochondrial myopathy.
Slide 4: Chloroplast Inheritance
Chloroplasts: Organelles responsible for photosynthesis in plants.
Chloroplast DNA (cpDNA): Circular DNA molecule found in chloroplasts.
Inheritance Pattern: Often maternally inherited in most plants, but can vary in some species.
Examples: Variegation in plants, where leaf color patterns are determined by chloroplast DNA.
Slide 5: Plasmid Inheritance
Plasmids: Small, circular DNA molecules found in bacteria and some eukaryotes.
Features: Can carry antibiotic resistance genes and can be transferred between cells through processes like conjugation.
Significance: Important in biotechnology for gene cloning and genetic engineering.
Slide 6: Mechanisms of Extrachromosomal Inheritance
Non-Mendelian Patterns: Do not follow Mendel’s laws of inheritance.
Cytoplasmic Segregation: During cell division, organelles like mitochondria and chloroplasts are randomly distributed to daughter cells.
Heteroplasmy: Presence of more than one type of organellar genome within a cell, leading to variation in expression.
Slide 7: Examples of Extrachromosomal Inheritance
Four O’clock Plant (Mirabilis jalapa): Shows variegated leaves due to different cpDNA in leaf cells.
Petite Mutants in Yeast: Result from mutations in mitochondrial DNA affecting respiration.
Slide 8: Importance of Extrachromosomal Inheritance
Evolution: Provides insight into the evolution of eukaryotic cells.
Medicine: Understanding mitochondrial inheritance helps in diagnosing and treating mitochondrial diseases.
Agriculture: Chloroplast inheritance can be used in plant breeding and genetic modification.
Slide 9: Recent Research and Advances
Gene Editing: Techniques like CRISPR-Cas9 are being used to edit mitochondrial and chloroplast DNA.
Therapies: Development of mitochondrial replacement therapy (MRT) for preventing mitochondrial diseases.
Slide 10: Conclusion
Summary: Extrachromosomal inheritance involves the transmission of genetic material outside the nucleus and plays a crucial role in genetics, medicine, and biotechnology.
Future Directions: Continued research and technological advancements hold promise for new treatments and applications.
Slide 11: Questions and Discussion
Invite Audience: Open the floor for any questions or further discussion on the topic.
2. Road map
1. The brain vs. The robot
1. The brain vs. The computer
2. The human vs. The monkey
3. Cognition vs. Pure logic
4. Cognitive biases vs. Informal fallacies
5. Does the brain know logic?
2. Examples: Nature and logical structure
3. Animal cognition
1. Can they infer principles of logic from experience?
2. Horse, Gorilla, Dog
4. How do you deal with cognitive biases?
5. Honourable mentions
6. Summary
3. If you are having a beer, you must be more than 18 years of age
Which card(s) should be turned over to know that the rule has been
followed?
Beer Water 25 12
21 43
5. What is cognition?
• Cognition is the set of mental processes involved in gaining
information and making sense of it.
• Cognition is derived from the latin word ‘Cognoscere’ which means
‘get to know’.
• Sensory information Cognition Guided behaviour
• Decision making, Problem solving, language comprehension, abstract
thought, etc. require basic cognitive skills such as selective attention,
working memory, divided attention, concentration, processing speed,
spatial cognition, computations, etc. These skills are supported and
created by an assembled kludge of neurons which signal in specific
patterns.
6. The brain vs the computer
• Factors which matter in ‘how’ information is stored and retrieved in
the brain
• 60+ Neurotransmitters
• Some inhibitory or some excitatory
• Electrochemical signals at particular voltages
• Global brain wave communications
• Temporal firing speed
• Glial support for repair
• Probabilistic nature of firing
• Shape of the neuron
• Factors which matter in ‘how’ information is stored and retrieved in
the computer
• Any set of information can be represented as a series of 0s and 1s
8. The guessing experiment
by George L. Wolford
• Human subjects and monkeys were presented a task on a computer
which involved guessing where the ‘dot’ will appear next.
• The dot could be appear at the top or the bottom of the screen
• The human and monkeys both made errors in guessing for a while but
later on the scores reported some game-changing information.
9. • The experimenter manipulates where the light will appear on the screen and set it to
appear on top 80% of the times.
• Humans and monkeys both quickly learn that the light appears on the top and 2 unique
things happen when they learn this.
1. The monkey learns to optimize and press only the top light thereby giving it an
accuracy of nearly 80%.
2. The human invariably tries to figure out a pattern in the light and guesses every
time. The human truly believes that there is a pattern and the results yield an
accuracy of only 68%.
• The interpretation for this lies in an evolutionary theory for ‘Lateralization’.
• The left Hemisphere: Wants to assign meaning to the information and make a
narrative
• The right Hemisphere: Wants to maximize and optimize
• The newer adaptions partially compromised a ‘logical’ faculty and emphasised on a more
‘meaning assigning’ faculty. Language comprehension is a beneficial result of this
adaptation.
• The humans learnt to interpret their experience in a novel way that animals could not.
10. The human vs. the monkey
• Evolutionary advantage
• Optimization
• Side effects of higher cognitive functioning
• attaching meaning: structure, function
• Man infers principles of logic based on experiences and inherited
adaptive mechanisms.
• Children are scientists who test things out.
• Soon when their brain starts to resemble that of an adult by 16-18 years of
age, the pre-frontal cortex strengthens the most.
• Sound decision making, meta-cognition, morals, etc. are the result of this
brain region
11. Cognition vs. Pure logic
Does the brain really understand logic?
Class room Experiment: Based on the work of Peter C. Wason (1966)
If the card has a vowel on one side, it must have an even number on the
other side.
Which card(s) should be turned over to know that the rule has been
followed.
A H 6 7
12. Class room Experiment: Cont...
If you are having a beer, you must be more than 18 years of age
Which card(s) should be turned over to know that the rule has been
followed.
Beer Water 25 12
13. Analysed abstract logic
Results:
A-6 46%
A 33%
A-6-7 7%
A-7 4%
Case 1 Case 2
A Even Odd
H Even Odd Does not matter
6 Vowel Consonant Does not matter
7 Vowel Consonant
14. Analysed context dependent logic:
Results:
Beer and 12 72%
2 key conclusions:
People seek out confirming evidence, not disconfirming it
Data with meaning and real-life sense is easier to process logically than
abstract data
Case 1 Case 2
Beer <18 >18
Water <18 >18 Does not matter
25 Beer Water Does not matter
12 Beer Water
15. Abstract W/ context Logic
convention
A = Beer = P
G = Water = Not P
6 = 25 Years = Q
7 = 12 Years = Not Q
16. Cognitive biases vs. Informal fallacies
Cognitive fallacies Informal fallacies
1. Not necessarily an error in logic
2. A tendency of erroneous thinking observed at a
population level: over-estimation
3. Context dependent
1. Necessarily an error In logic
2. Single-person dependent
3. Context independent
• Consistent ways in which people reason erroneously
• They are ways in which people actually reason, not how they ‘should’ reason
• They are not about social preferences, prejudices, racism, choosing belief
systems, etc.
• They are in-grained tendencies which have advantages in many situations,
usually naturally selected and some socially imposed.
• Pervasive, Intuitive, Effortless, Automatic,
17. It is wiser to listen to that guy yell ‘run for your lives, bear
attack!’ than to go and confirm the threat.
Image credit: www.crazyhappyhealthy.com
18. 1. The confirmation bias
Which is the next number in this series: 2 4 6 ?
Task: Guess the rule I am using to compute the next number
Only one guess for the rule but you can guess as many numbers as you
can.
Response: Yes, fits my rule OR No, does not fit my rule
Religious fanatics, business developers, marketing strategists, etc. all
fall victim to this. Disconfirming evidence is left ignored.
19. 2. The conjunction fallacy
• There is a 32 year old feminist female. Which job is she more likely to
do?
1. Work at a bank with a great pay which makes her happy.
2. Work at a bank with a great pay which makes her happy while she
participates in a feminist support group in her bank.
Probability of case 1 is P
Probability of case 2 is P x Q
Since 0 < P < 1, P x Q < P
In short, case 2 has more conditions to be met than case 1, thus it is necessarily
less likely.
20. Summary of Part 1
• The brain is a messy organ which assigns meaning to raw data from
the environment
• Logic is inferred through experience and familiar concepts are easier
to process
• Cognitive biases are erroneous tendencies in thinking which
contradict logic
• The confirmation bias makes us choose information which fits our
belief and we reinforce this by ignoring disconfirming data.
Limited attention Preconceived notions Inadequate inferences
• The conjunction fallacy makes us believe specific details with more
conditions to be met are more likely than lesser conditions with lesser
details
21. 3. It gets worse before it gets better
Predictions are deceptive and why psychologists, doctors and economists are not
wrong.
Case 1: You are ill and you take the doctor’s medicine after his diagnosis. You
continue to feel ill for a few days and then you feel better.
Case 2: You are ill and after the doctors diagnosis, you get better instantly.
Case 3: The person is ill and continues to feel ill endlessly. This case is a joke and we
assume that the doctor knows his medicine well and your illness is not too serious.
Did you think that the doctor did well? Probably Yes. But in both scenarios, the
doctor comes off as a good doctor because the patient is now cured with a
favourable diagnosis.
22. • It’ll get worse before it gets better = If it gets worse, It will get better.
• P Q
P Q P Q Cognitive error
T T T Perfect scenario
F F T It never got worse
T F F Delayed progress
F T T It never got worse
23. 4. The anchoring effect
• An experiment by Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky
• What percentage of African Countries are a part of the UN?
Group 1 Group 2
Is it greater or
lesser than 10% ?
Answer: 25%
Is it greater or
lesser than 65% ?
Answer: 45%
24. • Group 1 average: 25%
• Group 2 average: 45%
People do not mentally calculate or estimate from scratch. They find a
reference point or an ‘Anchor’ which they make quick adjustments to.
Repeated experimentation with randomly chosen anchors confirm the bias.
This bias is used for media, political and business manipulation quite often
News flash: 20 people died due to a bomb blast
News flash: 200 people died due to a bomb blast
25. 5. The gambler’s fallacy
• You have to bet on a coin toss: Heads = 50% chance, Tails = 50%
chance
• The first one was Tails. What do you bet on?
• The first four were Tails. What do you bet on?
• The first seventeen were Tails. What do you bet on?
• Real example at a casino: The first 26 were Heads, millions of dollars
bet on Tails for the next round. The 27th was yet another Heads and
the streak ended.
• The Universe:
26. 6. Problem of Averages
The average can be computed for anything and everything.
The average human has approximately 1 breast and 1 testicle
Data type and distribution are both important.
Examples: IQ, Height, Wealth
Outliers: Be cautious
Power Law:
1. > 30 million people: Tokyo
2. 30 > 20: 11 cities
3. 20 > 10: 15 cities
4. 10 > 5: 48 cities
5. 5 > 1: Thousands of cities
28. 7. Regression to the mean
• What is common between:
1. A person with severe back pain visits the therapist for relief
2. A cricketer goes to a coach before the match for lessons
3. An investor does a rain-dance every time his stock falls hard
What happens when you experience the hottest or the coldest day? Weather
forecasts have a life lesson in them – Natural variations
Independent vs. interdependent events
The universe does have a balancing force for ‘systems’ which function within
limits.
29. The destructive power of the regression to the mean delusion
50 students in a class receive a score in the range of 10 to 90 out of 100 in
the first preliminary exam.
The class teacher shouts at the ones who get 10-15 and then praises the
ones who get 85-90.
The second preliminary exam sees something similar. Range is 9-91 out of
100.
Through natural variation the 10-15 mark scores score 15 to 20 and then the
85-90 scores score 80-85. Thus, a new student’s group is formed at the
extremes” 9-15 and 85-91.
Coincidentally or through a pseudo-random occurrence the highest and the
lowest were replaced.
Erroneous conclusion: Shouting helps and praise hinders
30. Animal Cognition
• Clever Hans and William Von Osten
He used to tap
his Hoof to
indicate the
answer of a
simple
mathematical
problem!
+ - × ÷
31. • Hans maintained an accuracy of about 89% in public shows.
• A psychologist investigating found out that the further Hans went
from the trainer, the lower the accuracy and after a significant
amount of distance, the accuracy fell to ZERO.
• What would one suspect?: Telepathy? Comfort? Magic? God?
• A series of controlled experiments showed that a feedback loop was
present between Hans and the Trainer.
• The facial ques were the key. Hans kept tapping till the trainer’s face
showed satisfaction which was strongly correlated with the ‘correct’
answer.
32. • Rico the dog
Credits: www.functionalshift.wordpress.com
Rico was trained to identify 200 toys with
unique names.
Obvious conclusion: Strong memory for
novel items
Subsequent experiment: Test for logic
7 known toys + 1 unknown toy placed in 1
room. The experimenter askes Rico to get a
known toy from outside each others visual
proximity. Later, the experimenter calls out
an unknown name only once.
Rico deduces by means of elimination and
fetches the new unknown toy. Rico
successfully maps the unknown name to
the unknown toy.
Fast mapping: Single instance experience
for learning a concept with novel
information.
3/6 new toys were remembered over a
month == the average human ability for
fast mapping
34. • 1000 word vocab in modified American sign language and 2000
English words
• Koko exhibits some, not many, logical and meaning assigning events.
• Small amount of clever Hans effect
• When Koko’s baby was separated from her, she spelt BABY in sign
language.
• She used the words for ‘Finger’ and ‘Ring’ to indicate a bracelet.
Cognition at its purest!
• Weird fact: Koko likes nipples and even asks her caregivers to show
them through sign language
35. How do you deal with Cognitive biases?
1. Focus on the data
2. Seek out contrary data and conclusions
3. Avoid the noise
4. Test and Re-test
5. Make educated guesses
6. Avoid distractions from the ‘useless content’
36. Honourable mentions
• The outcome bias: You should have not done that
• The sunk cost fallacy: We’ve come so far, can’t quit now
• Availability bias: Why we prefer a wrong map over none, Ks
38. Important people:
• Daniel Kahneman: Thinking fast and Slow
• Amos Tversky
• Rolf Dobelli: The art of thinking clearly
• David Eagleman
39. Aditya Shukla
adityashukla77@gmail.com
Founder, Researcher at The OWL
Music research: Learning, memory and creativity
Guitarist, Composer at Gaia’s Throne
Heavy metal, Sci-Fi theme, Evolution, Aliens
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